School district backs off violating student’s free speech, religious freedom rights

Sabrina Steffans displays her newly decorated school parking space. / Credit: Courtesy of First Liberty Institute

CNA Staff, Aug 28, 2025 / 15:53 pm (CNA).

A rising senior at a high school in Grand Island, New York, Sabrina Steffans, is now allowed to decorate her school parking space with Christian messages after her high school reversed course after initially rejecting her faith-based artwork.

Grand Island High School allows seniors to paint their parking spots “to encourage students to express themselves through positive artwork, to beautify the campus, to build school spirit, and to create a new and exciting radiation to support senior class activities and events.”

When Steffans, a Christian who leads a Bible club at her school, proposed three drawings for her parking space, the school rejected the first two, which had Christian themes.

Steffans said the school approved the third design, “which had no Bible verses, no crosses, or anything.”

Steffans said after the school rejected the second proposed drawing, “that’s when we kind of decided to take charge and move forward with this [legal action].”

Steffans hired lawyers from First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit religious liberty law firm, who wrote a demand letter to the Grand Island school district insisting she had a constitutionally-protected right to freely express her religious beliefs at school.

Days later, attorneys for the school district responded to the demand letter stating that Sabrina could proceed with her original design.

“We are pleased that the school district changed course and will allow Sabrina to truly express her deeply held beliefs in her design,” said Keisha Russell, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute. “The First Amendment protects students’ private expressions of faith in public schools.”

In response to the threatened lawsuit, Grand Island Central School District Superintendent Brian Graham issued a statement last week saying the district takes “seriously our responsibility to uphold constitutional principles, including the First Amendment.”

He continued: “While we strongly dispute any assertion that our policies or decisions violated the rights of any student, the board of education and district leadership, after careful consultation with legal counsel, have decided that the student in question will be permitted to proceed with her original senior parking space design.”